Circling In

The pixie huddled in inside an abandoned squirrel shelter shivering from the cold. This is humiliating. She thought, sulking inside the shelter, staring at the old, dried twigs that littered the floor beneath her. At least I’m away from the wind.

She yearned to start a fire, but she was expending nearly all her strength trying to maintain the spell that was hiding her. She wanted to just fly away but she didn’t have the strength for it. Afa did something to her, and she could feel that she was weaker than normal.

I’m hiding from a bunch of people like a scared child. She thought while trying to get some feeling back in her arms. No one can find me, once I calm down a bit, I’ll make my move. They won’t be able to track me with my spell up. I’ll head south and into safety. Maybe I’ll find Primrose. She thought as she looked outside the tree and saw snowflakes began to gently drift down.

***

“So how do you find how big a circle is?” Lottie asked as they continued to move towards where they thought the pixie was. It had been far easier to do once they found the outside perimeter of the spell. Bryson was able to trace an invisible line out of magic around most of the circle to get a vague estimate of the size of the circle.

“You use a mathematical formula to calculate it.” Bryson answered as he moved along looking around. He could tell that they were headed towards the right direction as he was starting to be able to discern the source of the magic from the lack of magic.

“I never learned that.”

“You learn it a few years later in school.” Florence said.

“Oh, I don’t go to school, Mister Phillip teaches me.”

“How do you know about that? Weren’t you a nomad?” Bryson asked.

“I’ve read old math textbooks on my travels. How do you know about calculating circumference?” Florence asked as she checked through her bag.

“Unfortunately, my tutor gives me far more advanced material. But yeah, you just need distance from the center of the circle and pi to calculate it.” Bryson said shrugging.

“Pie? How do pies help?” Lottie asked.

“Not pies, pi. It’s a math symbol. It has nothing to do with food.”

“It sounds just like pie.”

“It’s spelled without an e.” Florence said.

“Why?”

“Because it’s not a pie, it’s a symbol that has to do with circles.” Bryson said.

“Pies are circles.”

“… that is true.” Bryson realized.

“Not all pies. People cook pies in squares.” Florence said.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Lottie said nodding her head.

After a few more minutes of walking, Bryson slowed to a stop. His eyes narrowing as he stared of straight ahead.

“What do you see?” Lottie said with a hushed voice moving next to him.

“Not… sure.” Bryson said. Pursing his lips, he thought for a moment. Well, they’re already helping me with this, why not share a secret.

“You two able to keep another secret?” He asked, both nodded in reply. Lottie a bit too excitedly for Bryson’s liking.

“Okay, stay silent.” Bryson muttered as his corneas disappeared and his eyes even in the daylight could be seen glowing.

“Woah.” Lottie gasped while Florence only stared at Bryson in silence.

“Quiet.” Bryson whispered as he looked. Looking ahead he saw no sign of magic. His brows furrowed as he concentrated, “Marsh, move over to that tree, Frost you to the other one.”

As they quietly followed his orders Bryson created a small ball of energy in the palm of his outstretched left hand. With the ball so close to him he could see the mana coming off from it he then looked towards the two.

As he focused, he tried his best to discern the difference between the three. Staring at it for a minute his head started to hurt. He closed his eyes and rubbed them, dissipating the energy ball he made and he felt his eyes return to normal.

That sucked. He thought but he did notice something. There was a difference between the magic within them. He thought back to what Primrose had taught him.

Magic at it’s simplest is the power of the unexplained. Magic is a natural resource within everything. From the living to the inanimate, everything had something to do with magic, which was why magic could be used on anything. Only things that are unnaturally magical are considered as magic, naturally.

The pixie was panicked obviously, and hastily casted a spell to hide the presence of magic. But she didn’t have the time to get into the complexities of the spell. It takes a lot of effort and time to get the details right.

The result of this was now clear to Bryson. The magic within magical things were completely erased, even the stuff that would be considered natural. But the natural trace amounts of magic in things remained in those nonmagical.

Comparing Lottie and Florence allowed Bryson to finally discern the tiny details between magically suppressed and not. Florence felt as though she was missing something when compared to Lottie.

Bryson would be using the unnaturally natural to find the pixie. Not perfect, but enough to go on. Bryson thought as he opened his eyes, only to find that he was nearly nose to nose with Florence who stared at him intently.

“Gah!” Bryson exclaimed leaping backwards.

“Are you alright you looked like you’re in pain.” Florence said grabbing the sides of Bryson’s head, “Any drowsiness, have you been drinking enough?”

“Marsh! Calm down.” Bryson said pushing her away, “It’s nothing serious. I’m just a little tired that’s it.” He assured her.

“Why? What did you do?”

“I was just looking.” Bryson and once he realized that his answer was unsatisfactory, he elaborated, “The glowing eyes allow me to see the details of magic better.” Among other things. Bryson thought internally.

“So what went wrong?” She asked, her eyes boring into his.

“I looked too hard, my eyes just got a bit tired. Calm down Marsh. I’m fine, we have other things to worry about.” Bryson assured him. Partly for his own safety, he did not want to get a medical checkup by her right now.

“Okay what were you looking for?” Lottie asked approaching the two. Florence slowly backed up a bit.

“Trying to figure out the trick of this spell.” Bryson said, trying not to look at Florence who kept staring at him. It’s from concern, but still. Bryson thought.

“Did you do it?”

“I think so. I noticed that anything considered magical is completely invisible along with everything surrounding it.” Bryson said indicating to Florence, “But objects with their natural trace magic can still be seen.” Bryson said pointing at Lottie.

“Woah, can the scanners the guards use even do that?” Lottie asked sounding impressed.

“No, the magic is so small it usually doesn’t matter, my eyes are able to pick up the small difference between nothing and barely anything.” Bryson said before adding, “It is hard though.”

“So don’t use it on a whim.” Florence said, “You’re using something that isn’t normal and you don’t fully understand. Clearly it affects you negatively from overuse and you want this to be a secret. It’s clear that this is trouble.”

“I’m not using it randomly, I’m using it to help.”

“And it hurt you.”

Bryson gave a sigh, “Your concern is appreciated. But you’re not me, you don’t need to worry about me.”

“Yes I do.” Florence stated.

“Pardon?” Bryson said taken aback.

“I need to worry about your health.”

“Why? Since when?”

“Since you saved my life. Whether you care or not, I owe you and I will make sure that you stay in good health, no matter what.” Florence said with an edge of softness in her voice.

“Awww.” Lottie said hiding a grin behind her hand.

Bryson shot a dirty look at Lottie who played dumb in response. Giving a sigh, Bryson tried to assure Florence, “Okay, fine. But of course I’m not going to feel great it was my first time trying. I need to practice it more.”

This time Florence gave a sigh, “Just don’t injure yourself please.”

“I will try.” Bryson said before snapping towards a grinning Lottie, “Can we go? We should less then ten minutes away.”

“Of course. Quietly now.” Lottie said as she guided them in a silent march.

***

A short walk later they reached an area and Bryson indicated for them to stop. As they hid behind some large snow-covered bushes Lottie whispered next to him.

“Are we here?”

“I believe so, the pixie is somewhere in front of us.” Bryson said looking around the foliage, seeing nothing.

“It’s going to take a long time for us to search through everything. The pixie hasn’t left?” Lottie asked.

“It’s there, the spell is at it’s strongest right now.” Bryson said before coming up with an idea, “I could use my eyes.”

“Why?” Florence asked with a suspicious glare.

“I said magical things have an area around them also completely erased right?”

“Yeah?”

“So, I assume a divine pixie has a lot of magic and that means I should be able to spot a lack of magic somewhere.” Bryson explained as he looked for Florence waiting for permission.

“Yes. You are free to do what you like Lord Bryson. I am not your mother.” Florence said after a moment glancing away. Bryson could swear he saw a twinge of embarrassment on her face from being asked for permission.

“I’ll be quick about this.” Bryson said as his eyes glowed once more.

Looking around he looked for any hiding spots, bushes, crevices, trees, anything. Bryson’s eyes then stopped at a tall spruce tree. There was no magic from that tree at all.

Bryson silently pointed up towards the tree, “Get in position.” The three silently began to creep towards the tree. Let’s get this over with. Bryson thought.